Vegan teen blog

Nadia bio

01 May 2017

Welcome to my blog! To start, here’s a bit about me…

My name is Nadia and I am from wellington, New Zealand. Currently, I am 16 and will be covering a lot of content that is targeted at teenagers and transitioning or potential vegans on this blog. I am passionate about veganism and would love to share my knowledge and experiences to help other people, I am in the process of writing an e-book with heaps of recipes, tips, lifestyle advice and my experiences. I have created a Facebook group called ‘Transitioning teenage vegans nz’ as a safe and welcoming community where people can share ideas and help each other through the journey to veganism, there is more about support groups in following posts.
I have been vegetarian for 6+ years before turning vegan about 4 years ago. Growing up, I was lactose intolerant and have always detested the taste of dairy so I never really ate it. My mother was pescaterian, now vegetarian and dairy-free and the only meat I ever really ate was fish, without even knowing it, I followed a mostly vegetarian and dairy-free diet anyway so the change into veganism was not difficult for me.
Being cruelty-free is something very important to me too. I believe Veganism is not merely a diet, my ethics and values extenuate into all aspects of my life. From things like hand-wash, medicine, clothing materials, skincare etc, I am extremely careful about making sure that everything I purchase is 100% vegan and cruelty-free and that the parent company of a product I am purchasing also attains those values important to me. For example, I don’t purchase from The Body Shop as they are owned by L’Oreal, a company that does test on animals. Even when prescribed mediecine or anti-biotics, I ensure I get the in a liquid or tablet form that isn’t encased in a gelatine pill.
I adore animals, have 3 pet dogs called Jonty, Molly and Rocco and have grown up being surrounded by dogs, when I was in Primary school, we bred my Maltese Chihuahua Molly and she has 3 gorgeous wee puppies! We have kept one, Rocco and he is quite a character! My oldest dog is nearly 13, he is a huge English Pointer whom I love to pieces! I would love to live on a farm with lots of animals like goats, chickens, sheep, cows, cats, dogs, the more the merrier!
In my spare time, I love to garden, grow heaps of my own organic food and grow plants from seeds, I have a greenhouse and could quite happily spend all day in there with the plants! Another one of my big passions is walking, especially nature walking and being surrounded by forests and trees. I try to walk every day as it helps me to feel calm and relaxed, I do lots of hills and like to power-walk. I do a lot of half-marathon events and I often win my age category, I came 6th overall in my last one and was the first female finisher! My time was 2h35min and I am very proud, I love to exercise and stay super fit. ? I have found that since going vegan, I have an abundance of energy, faster recovery and more motivation in general, I feel much happier and it is so rewarding to know that I am doing what I believe to be the right thing for myself, the planet and the beings that inhabit it.
I know that Veganism is a wonderful journey with lots of learning, mistakes and new things. While there are challenging parts, the positives far, far outweigh any minor negatives! I do not regret going vegan and strongly encourage everyone to give it a go and join the movement!
Below are some photos of my pets and a photo of me.
I hope you enjoy reading my blog posts!
Photos: My dog Molly (8yr old Maltese Chihuahua), my dog Rocco (6yr old Maltese Chihuahua Papillion - Molly’s son), and my 12yr old dog Jonty at the beach (English Pointer)

Vegan teen blog by Nadia

Nadia's blog is targeted at teenagers and transitioning or potential vegans. She is passionate about veganism and is keen to share her knowledge and experiences to help other people. Nadia is in the process of writing an e-book with recipes, tips, and lifestyle advice. Read more about Nadia

Note: The views in this blog are by Nadia and do not necessarily represent the view of the vegan society.